Brett and Raven Do Hogwarts

Chapter 4

That afternoon, Fred, George, Brett and Raven went out to the lake to enjoy what was bound to be one of the last warm days of the year. They thought they would take advantage of this and have a picnic near the lake, unfortunately for them, so did more then half of the student population. They managed to find a spot under a large tree that did not attack people, like the Womping Willow. Once they were settled, they ate their simple lunch of sandwiches and talked for a while.

"A lot of others had the same idea we had it seems," Raven stated the obvious.

"Yeah, like half the student population's out here. But then again, I never thought that we'd be the only ones with this brilliant idea," George responded. "It's always like this around now, just before it gets cold I mean. Everyone savours the last bit of warm weather the best they can."

Brett looked around and noticed some first years sitting under a nearby tree. They kept glancing towards her and the others, and Brett felt the need to let them know that she noticed them watching.

"Dudes check out those first years over there, they keep looking at us," she said to the others.

"And..." Fred questioned.

"Watch this." She was up to something.

"Here we go," Raven told Fred and George. "She does this all the time at home."

"CHILDREN!" Brett began loudly in the direction of the first years. "Why don't you hug me? You hug the mailman! Fine then! We'll go to Maui without you!" She began to laugh and Raven joined in with Fred and George. The first years were utterly confused and slightly embarrassed. They got up and quickly went back towards the castle.

"That was hilarious!" George managed to say while laughing.

"I know. That's why I did it." Brett continued to laugh with the others.

"Let's go back inside, it's really crowded out here, and I can see a lot more people coming out of the castle now," Raven suggested once they had all stopped laughing. "It'll be far to crowded for my liking soon."

"Yeah let's go," Fred agreed as he stood up followed by Raven.

"I wanted to stay out here a little longer," Brett said as she remained sitting next to George.

"I'll stay out here with you for a little," George said to Brett in a seductive yet sarcastic sort of voice, and then turned to Raven and Fred and said in a normal voice, "You two can go in if you'd like."

So Brett and George stayed outside while Raven and Fred walked towards the castle. Fred was asking Raven spontaneous questions about Canada since he had never been there and thought it amusing to ask both normal questions and funny questions.

"So how big is Canada?" he began with a normal question.

"I don't know, I never felt the need to go about finding out. All I know is that it's the second largest continent."

"Ah, so there must be a lot of people there."

"No, actually, most of Canada isn't populated."

"Alright, so what you're saying is that you live on a massive continent with no people," he joked.

"Kind of, except that some parts of Canada are populated, hence it's not like Brett and I are the only ones who live or lived there. It's just a really small percentage of people to live in such a vast area."

"Alright, so on to another question, do you ever dress up all the mice in your house and have them perform The Nutcracker for you?" Fred asked as though he does it often.

"No, I prefer to use rabbits in my portrayal of The Nutcracker," Raven joked in return.

"I see, I see, and another question about you Canadians." They were now in the castle and heading up the stairs to the common room. "What is this Slurpee you and Brett talk about missing so much all the time?"

"Slurpees." Raven let out a small laugh. "Just drinks that we buy all the time at the local convenience store. They're kind of like slush with flavour. They're really good and they keep you nice and cool in the summer months. And they're just so great that we buy them in the winter too."

"What sort of flavours?"

"All kinds. My favourite is lemonade. It's so good," Raven told him just before they arrived at the portrait hole.

"Cool, I shall want to try one of these Slurpees one day, but for now I have one final question."

"And what would that be?"

"Would you like to go to the Early Bird with me?" Fred asked like the question had been nothing more then any other question he had asked.

"All right, sure," Raven replied quite surprised at how easily Fred had asked her.

George and Brett sat under the tree and laughed for a while.

"That 'children' comment was priceless, by the way," George said.

"Oh, thanks. It's just some bit from back home."

"What was it like back there? I mean, what's Canada like?"

"Well, I don't know really. It's pretty big, and open, at least it is in Manitoba, where I'm from. Other provinces, like Ontario are highly populated, and there's a lot of big cities, like Toronto or Quebec City in Quebec for example."

"But, you didn't live in Toronto or Quebec, you lived in Manitoba. Where in Manitoba? What was it like there?"

"Well, I lived in a small beach community. Really small place, quiet, untouched by human destruction. There's a beach, and all summer, Raven and myself would hang out without anything to worry about. There are others, like Bryan, Rishelle, and Daiye, who also live there. We were all really close and stuff."

"Must have been hard to leave them all behind then, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but no biggie, cause I met knew people, for example, you," Brett said. "And I love to meet new people, so everything is adding up pretty good."

"So, meeting me was a good thing, then?"

"For sure!"

"Look Brett, you seem completely up front and what not, and I'd just like to say that I fancy that about you."

"That's cool," Brett replied.

"Yeah. But aside from that, I couldn't help but notice the fact that when I asked you to the Early Bird, you said you'd think about it. I figured that if you didn't want to go, you would of said 'no' already. And if you did want to go, you would of said 'yes' by now. So I was thinking about it, and maybe you haven't answered me yet because you do in fact wish to go to the dance, but perhaps you don't want to go with me," he offered in a questioning tone.

"Look, George. I do like you, and you're a really cool guy, I mean your funny as hell and you're not that bad looking either. So I--"

"If you don't want to go with me, it's fine!" George cut her off.

"Woah buddy, hold on!" She laughed out loud. "I do want to go. And I want to go with you!"

"Oh, okay then, cool," George smiled back.